Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co., 248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928), is a leading case in American tort law on the question of liability to an unforeseeable plaintiff. The case was heard by the New York Court of Appeals, the highest state court in New York; its opinion was written by Chief Judge Benjamin Cardozo, a leading figure in the development of American common law and later a United States Supreme Court justice.
The East New York station of the Long Island Rail Road, seen in 2008
The New York Court of Appeals Building in Albany, where the case was decided
Benjamin N. Cardozo, Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals and author of the majority opinion in Palsgraf (pictured in 1932 upon his appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court)
Benjamin N. Cardozo
Videos
Benjamin Nathan Cardozo was an American lawyer and jurist who served on the New York Court of Appeals from 1914 to 1932 and as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1932 until his death in 1938. Cardozo is remembered for his significant influence on the development of American common law in the 20th century, in addition to his philosophy and vivid prose style.
Cardozo’s Supreme Court nomination
Cardozo had an apartment in this building in Washington, D.C.